McDonald’s Cannot Make Your Kids Eat Anything They Don’t Want To

Children are impressionable, and McDonald’s has managed, in the majority of cases, to make children prefer McDonald’s over all other fast food choices. Some people have decided that McDonald’s marketing is to blame for the fact that kids eat French fries and not fruits and veggies. Or, at least, the claim to believe McDonald’s possesses such awesome powers. And they even pretend that they think children are somehow wise leaders in society. Thus, from MSNBC and Morning Joe:

“Nine-year-old Hannah Robertson doesn’t want a Happy Meal. She wants a healthy meal. And she’s not shy about saying it: Hannah took her pitch straight to the boss, telling McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson during the annual shareholder’s meeting that targeting kids with unhealthy food isn’t fair.”

Targeting—as if our children’s mouths are all forced open against their will and Ronald McDonald is out there with a fry gun shooting potatoes into their stuck-open mouths. She goes further, and told the CEO of McDonald’s, “Something I don’t think it’s fair when big companies try to trick kids into eating food that isn’t good for them by using toys and cartoon characters.”

It doesn’t work that way. If you put all of the clown’s power behind the sale of broccoli or spinach, he would be let go within weeks. Contrary to what Hannah Robertson has been led to believe, the children aren’t tricked at all. If you tried to make them eat fruits and vegetables, they wouldn’t be enthusiastic and they’d eventually become downright hostile to McDonald’s “healthy” food. No matter how big the company, or how many toys they used as bribes, or how many cartoon characters they used, children cannot be persuaded to eat butter beans.

If anyone really has the power to “trick” a kid, it is probably the child’s own parent. In fact, Hannah’s mother just happens to be “a kid’s nutritional advocate.” So even though USA Today and Morning Joe both shamelessly use a child to sell an anti-McDonald’s message, they know that nothing of the kind ever happened. Hannah’s mom just exploited her daughter for the sake of a message.

Was the message worth it? I doubt it. Fruits are sugary. The CEO boasted that they now serve low-fat chocolate milk, but such milk makes up for the loss of fat by using more carbohydrates, which many believe are much worse than fat. The idea that fat in food becomes fat in our bodies is arguably a junk-science myth. If so, switching to fat-free, which is heavier in carbs, is an unhealthy move.

But even unhealthier is this ridiculous belief that corporations have the power to make people do things they don’t want to do. McDonald’s may have managed to make children prefer them to Burger King or Wendy’s, but that doesn’t mean they can control children’s real food preferences. The entire pretense is simply propaganda for the idea that children’s food preferences can be controlled by the will of others.

That ridiculous claim in turn provides justification for all the Mayor Bloombergs of the world who claim that the government is supposed to control what people eat for their own good.

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Comments

Lets face reality. Hannah does not probably exist except in Moocheellee wet dream. Kids as being kids are still learning and the vast majority will not like carrots or other things that are "good" for them. That is why they are not called adults(I still dont like so-called "healthy choices). It is up to the parents to make sure that any trips to the fast food places are balanced with vegetables not big corporations.

gwedem5995

I don't know why people don't leave McDonalds, Wendy's and all the other fast food chains. If you don't want the calories etc, just don't go there but leave the rest of us alone. You know, personal resonsibility. My grandson was about l00 lbs overweight and it wasn't because every now and then I would take him to McDonald's, it was because his mother was too lazy to cook and they did a lot of junk food eating. He finally took personal responsibility when he was about 15 and lost 100 lbs. I am so sick of one group telling another group what to eat, how we should feel etc.

annie66

I think it is disgusting for an adult to exploit a child. This kid has absolutely no knowledge about anything that she supposedly said; she has merely been programmed to spew nonsense. This administration has no shame at all about using children for their own purposes. The mother is even more to blame for using her daughter to advance an agenda.

Clint

The mother is a typical liberal.

chamuiel

"Hannah’s mother just happens to be “a kid’s nutritional advocate.”

In simple words a food cop, like bloomberg.

Where these people get off trying to tell others what to eat is beyond me

What would be really newsworthy would be if they did a survey of a random 1,000 kids between the ages of four and ten across the nation, from coast to coast and see how many of them like Mcdonalds compared to those that don't.

Perhaps that would shut young Hannah, and her Mother up.

americanpride

The kids get fruits an veggies at home ! They need a change for fun ...kiss off badgering our kids !

These stupid people are too dumb to look and point the finger in the RIGHT direction; It should be pointed AT THE PARENTS. I've been in a lot of McD's places over the years and I don't recall seeing a whole army of 6-7-8- and 9 years olds bellying up to the counter to DEMAND a kiddie meal with Fries and a burger. How about you?

Deb

I only allowed my children a visit to Mcdonalds on special occasions their birthdays. I never made fried foods for my kids. They did like the toys for five minutes. It is the parents decision to give fast food to their kids they are being raised by us not the collective, make a decision and stick to it. FIRE O'BAMA!

nancie

Why is McDonald's blamed when its the parents that drive the kids to Micky D's. The parents also order the food and pay for it. If its bad for kids, then take the kids away from those irresponsible parents/parent.

TexasOlTimer

I've yet to see a 9-yr-old drive to McD's and place her own order. If little Hannah wants fruits and vegetables, let her eat at home or go to a different restaurant. Seems the liberals think that whatever they want is best for everyone - one size fits all. If I want to take my little great-granddaughter to McD's or BurgerKing or wherever for a treat, that's my option. A treat isn't the same veggies she gets at home.

siquijorisland

Is this the same McDonald that supports critically ill kids at McDonald house and is a higer tan average wage employer in some parts of Asia.

Never saw any kids drive their bikes through the drive through. I have this real dislike for being told how to live.

OzzWorx

Every fat person is on a low fat diet. I hate having to read an already confusing menu with calorie numbers in the way.

posthuf

Low fat, higher carbs. Have to have something in there to eat. Pick your poison.

Sharon

You're an idiot!!! The fast food industry now uses hundreds of modified food compounds as biochemical triggers to increase appetite and food cravings. Fast food chains such as McDonald's spend vast amounts of money in an effort to keep using addictive substances to keep the customers coming. Get a life and help our children find a way to become healthy again!!

posthuf

I eat fast food occasionally. I must be super-human, because I've never succumbed to the alleged modified compounds, biochemical triggers, or addictive substances.

You, on the other hand, sound like one of those shrill screaming, whining liberals who "feel" everything YOU like should be forcefully imposed on everybody else.

Have you not heard: MILK DOES NOT DO EVERY BODY GOOD!

posthuf

An open and shut case of extreme child abuse. Nothing can excuse it.

jreg9304

this fast food chain has for decades used psychological influence on our kids. the harm has already been done. these chains hired psychologists to find out how this long term effect could be achieved. too me Mcdonalds and burger king are your ultimate roto rooter, but, on the human scale.